


Displays of Affection

by claimingtheanonymous



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst?, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Season/Series 07, Public Display of Affection, Season 8 Doesn't Exist, Secret Relationship, not for long though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:16:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25574203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claimingtheanonymous/pseuds/claimingtheanonymous
Summary: Keith can't really believe how he got here. He's in a relationship with his best friend and loving every second of it. The thing that makes things awkward is the fact that they are keeping it to themselves for now which is hard when the paladins are all living in the paladin quarters on board the Atlas.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Displays of Affection

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise now for any mistakes, I don't beta and hardly proof read.
> 
> This chapter is a lil, tiny bit angsty but the fic won't be. It's going to be silly and playful and just sheith being super in love and horny for each other like ALL the time.

Keith can’t quite believe his ears. Perhaps the bandages are wrapped too tightly around his head, stopping him from hearing things correctly because it sounded as though Shiro had just confessed to him. Confessed his _love_ for him.

“What?” Keith asks, feeling his eyebrows knit together as he sits up a little straighter on his hospital bed, eyes flickering from Shiro to the open doorway expecting Lance to be stood there with a stupid fucking grin on his face, laughing at Keith for even thinking it could maybe, be possible for Shiro to return the feelings that he’s harboured for _so_ , so long.

“I love you.” Shiro repeats lifting his metal hand up to rest on Keith’s shoulder in such a familiar way that Keith can’t help but relax at the feeling of it there. “I love you.” Shiro echoes himself again, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth, eyes bright and wide while his fingers grip onto Keith’s shoulder in a way that might almost hurt.

Except it doesn’t. Because it’s Shiro and it’s Keith and really Shiro couldn’t do a thing to ever truly hurt Keith. Nothing except dying and Keith isn’t likely to let that happen again.

“Keith.” Shiro says with a laugh, fingers tightening and loosening to get his attention. But Keith can’t get out of his head. Feels almost dizzy with the way his thoughts are swirling too many and too fast in his brain. 

“I think my bandages are too tight.” He says, lifting a hand to his head and tugging at the offender of this hallucination as Shiro’s eyes flitter into panic mode.

He moves from the bed so quickly it takes Keith’s malfunctioning brain a moment to catch onto the fact that Shiro is no longer by his side.

“Nurse! The bandages are too tight!” His voice is pitched higher than usual as he clings onto the door frame and Keith would have laughed if his brain could actually process anything. Shiro’s head is out of sight for only a moment before he’s crossing back across the room and circling the bed so that the nurse who follows him in can access the bed easier. 

Keith is still confused, doesn’t understand the reason why his brain is still moving so slowly, nor why Shiro has taken hold of is hand with shaking fingers that thumb at Keith’s knuckles nervously.

“Keith how are you feeling?” The nurse asks drawing Keith’s bewildered gaze from Shiro to her, dizziness making his vision swirl before it settles and he sees her clearly.

“Dizzy and…I’ve got a headache and I’m pretty sure I’m hearing things.” He tells the nurse, trying his best to ignore the way Shiro’s fingers move against his own, worriedly squeezing.

“Well…I can loosen the bandages a little.” The nurse tells them, eyes moving to Shiro with a reassuring smile before gliding back to Keith’s where she continues to talk to him as her hands come up above his eye level and begin to pull and loosen the bandages. “And as for the dizziness, you’re still recovering Keith, it has only been two days since you woke from the coma. Your body is still healing and it _is_ going to take time, so nothing strenuous going on, physically or mentally ok?” Once again her gaze goes to Shiro, who’s fingers tighten exponentially at the look she gives him before she smiles back at Keith who nods awkwardly.

“You know to ring the buzzer if you’re feeling uncomfortable right? The slightest thing ok?” She tells Keith as she pulls away from him with a friendly smile. 

“He likes to suffer in silence.” Shiro chimes in from behind and Keith turns his head too fast to try and see the smirk he knows will be there. “Steady Keith.” There’s that hand on his shoulder again.

“Looks like someone will be looking after you anyway.” The nurse notes as Keith’s vision clears to see Shiro smiling down at him in a way that can only be described as lovingly.

Keith stares as Shiro does the same, neither looking away from the other as the machines surrounding Keith continue to beep monotonously and the nurse disappears. 

“D-did you really say that before?” Keith stammers out, eyes not moving from Shiro’s.

“What?” Shiro asks with a scrunched brow. “That I love you?” 

Keith feels how the blood rushes to his face, knows his cheeks will be aglow as his brain slowly takes in the fact that Shiro has now said that phrase to him four times and Keith hasn’t even replied. He’s too hot, his mouth too dry and his eyes feel too wet around the edges.

“I love you baby.” Shiro mumbles again as his eyes soften at the sight of Keith’s watery eyes. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out and to tell you. I hope you feel the same, I really do because I mean I just can’t believe that this is all over and the thought of not being with you _now_ just…breaks my heart.” 

Keith has to concentrate hard to take in what Shiro is saying, take it in and _really_ let himself see it in his best friends eyes. Eyes that he’s always longed to hold with his own. That he never thought he’d get to do.

“I love you.” Keith croaks out through his dry mouth, words catching mid sentence as a tear falls free down his cheek. Keith watches as Shiro’s entire demeanour changes before his eyes. 

He watches the way Shiro leans onto the bed heavier, making the metal frame creak under their combined weight, the way Shiro smile becomes dopey in a way Keith has never really seen before, eyes soft in the harsh light of the hospital room. “You do?” He whispers as he leans in closer, his nose nearly touching Keith’s as his eyes dip to Keith’s lips.

Keith nods while he licks his lips, panic beginning to surface in his chest. He’s never kissed Shiro before and it’s been so long since he’s been anywhere near this intimate with _anyone_ and Keith worries that he’s going be horrible at it. He can feel his heartbeat hammering in his chest as Shiro leans closer, noses sliding together and breath slipping over Keith’s lips and Keith closes his eyes waiting for the press of lips to his own while he panics about how bad he’s going to be for Shiro.

“I love you.” Shiro hums and Keith revels in the way Shiro’s lips brush his own as he says it. And Keith realises that he shouldn’t feel this way, knows that Shiro wouldn’t care because this isn’t a first date where they’ve only just met and don’t know one another. No, they _know_ one another so well and they’re so far beyond a first kiss. And yet.

Keith pushes himself up and into Shiro’s lips, eyes slipping closed once again as they slot together, plump lips and wet tongues and sharp teeth that calm the nervous pace of his heart with soft, slow movements. Shiro’s hands have found a home on Keith’s waist, they’re loose in their hold because he knows that bandages lie beneath the garish orange shirt Keith’s being made to wear. But they’re a solid weight and warm and possibly the most comforting touch Shiro could have offered for this moment, they keep Keith grounded, they keep them together. 

That is until they have to pull apart.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. I’ll give you two a minute.” The nurse had come back into the room with what Keith assumes is his evening meal. Keith only notices because of Shiro’s odd gasp against his lips and the way those hands pull back along with his body weight. His eyes are wide and he’s flushing from the high collar of his garrison uniform to the tip of white fluff falling onto his forehead. 

Keith chuckles at his embarrassment even as his own blush begins to rise. “At least it was only the nurse and not Lance or my Mom.” Keith says around a smile he couldn’t control even if he wanted to.

“Thank god.” Shiro mumbles, his prosthetic pulling at the short hairs at the nape of his neck telling Keith just how embarrassed Shiro is that they were caught.

An unbidden thought that perhaps Shiro is embarrassed of Keith and not being caught flickers through his brain without him truly thinking it over. 

“Should we tell them?” Keith mumbles, looking down at his hands, scabbed over with cuts from the crash that put him in the hospital.

“Who?” Shiro questions, eyes flickering from Keith to the nurse who hurries into the room and leaves Keith’s meal on the wheely table before leaving again just as quickly.

Keith pulls the table to him, lifting the lid on his evening meal and letting the smell of mac and cheese waft over his face before he attempts to move himself further up the bed of weakened arms.

“Everyone else.” Keith says, voice coming out in a grunt almost as he struggles. Only for a moment though as Shiro is quick on the uptake and helps settle his pillows into a stack that he can rest upright against.

“Well…” Shiro sounds thoughtful as he watches Keith bring a forkful of hospital mac and cheese up to his lips to blow on. “I think maybe we should just keep it to us for now? Enjoy it together…”

Keith takes his bite of mac and cheese to hide the disappointment he feels welling inside him. Shiro might be telling the truth, that he doesn’t want the other’s to know so that _they_ can enjoy it first…but something niggles in the back of Keith’s achey brain that maybe Shiro just isn’t 100% in. That maybe he doesn’t quite love Keith the way Keith loves him.

“Sure.” Keith mumbles out before offering Shiro his next bite of mac and cheese. He cheers up a lot as Shiro’s face lights up in pleasure before wrapping his lips around the fork with a look of affection aimed at Keith as he does so.

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream about sheith with me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Claimingtheanon)!!!


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